On December 18, 2023, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s ( HKSAR ) most recent anti-democracy trial commenced. This time, magnate and advocate Jimmy Lai Chee-ying is the plaintiff in the dock.
Under the HKSAR’s sedition law, Lai is accused of conspiring to “print, distribute, sell, offer for sale, distribute, show, and/or reproduce subversive publications” and of” conspiring to collude with unusual forces” under China’s national security law. Lai may receive a life sentence in prison if found guilty.
On January 2, 2024, Lai entered a not-guilty plea. Lai’s faith is about certain given how Hong Kong’s once-uniform judicial system has operated since China passed the national safety legislation in June 2020. The length of Lai’s jail sentence is the only real, unanswered question in the present test.
But why Jimmy Lai? Lai made his fortune by founding Giordano, a well-known Hong Kong apparel company. Giordano, a company founded in 1981, specialized in producing elegant, affordable clothes for Asia’s growing middle class.
Giordano’s financial locations were well-known for the high-quality customer support that was provided, which was unusual in much of Asia. More than 30 states are home to Giordano’s more than 2, 000 businesses right now.
Lai and the Chinese government’s officials met when he donated thousands of dollars to the Tiananmen Square activists for food, clothes, and other needs in 1989. His businesses also sold t-shirts with the eyes of some of the Tiananmen demonstrations ‘ student leaders.
Next, a weekly publication with in-depth political and economic investigative reporting and tabloid-like dramatic stories about Hong Kong celebrities, was published in 1990 by Lai.
Next were regularly featured articles that debunk China’s political and economic policies and its leaders. Next was the most commonly read journal in Hong Kong’s fiercely competitive market within a month.
Taiwanese officials began putting pressure on Giordano after the company’s entry into the mainland Chinese retail sector in 1992, presumably as a result of Lai’s democratic activism. Lai again remarked about how his political activism had a negative impact on Giordano:”…
I would n’t have done what I have done if I had truly handled business like a businessman, which is how I would have opposed China. Because you are aware that there will be repercussions, no business in their appropriate mind would do this.
Lai sold his stakes in Giordano in 1994, focusing primarily on his expanding papers company.
Apply Daily, a Chinese-language news, was launched in 1995 by Lai. Similar to Next, the magazine featured in-depth analyses of Hong Kong’s elites, including political and economic articles. Additionally, Apple Daily published reports that were embarrassing for China’s leaders and important of its policies.
Apple Daily, along with Next, quickly had the largest flow of all Hong Kong papers. Lai, Apple Daily, and Next have published a lot of articles criticizing the City and PRC governments for more than 20 times.
Lai relocated to Taiwan in 2001, evidently dissatisfied with the social improvements in Hong Kong following its resumption of Chinese rule on July 1, 1997.
Lai officially expressed disappointment over the resignation of Anson Chan Fang On- sang, a long-time legal servant. Lai’s support for Taiwan was another terrible affront to the People’s Republic of China, according to China’s leaders.
Lai, a vocal supporter of the Umbrella Movement, ran a number of good reviews of the street protest movement and criticizes of the government’s actions in the PRC and HKSAR in 2014.
The Standing Committee of the PRC’s National People’s Congress, which continuously delayed the start of democratic elections in Hong Kong and put severe restrictions on how and when democracy would be practiced in the city, ignited the Umbrella Movement.
The protesters used tents to shield themselves from the break oil deployed by the Hong Kong Police Force, and the action was given its name.
Lai participated frequently in the three-month opposition that had the power to temporarily shut down major highways in Hong Kong’s Admiralty area as well as pieces of Causeway Bay and Mongkok.
Lai’s current test is primarily motivated by his involvement in and help for the protests that occurred in 2019 and 2020. In response to a plan to move alleged scammers from Hong Kong to the PRC for trial, a large-scale protest was organized in response to the proposed amendment to the abduction law.
Lai publicly called for the PRC and HKSAR institutions to be put under sanctions, just like he did in 2014, and offered his assistance to the activists via Apple Daily and Next.
The result of Lai’s trial is a given conclusion: Lai may be found guilty, despite the HKSAR government going to great lengths to ensure compliance with legal procedures.
The only thing that remains is how much of a statement he will receive. Lai may receive a life sentence under the national security law, and the maximum sentence is two years in prison for the first act and three years for the next act, according to Hong Kong’s legislation.
However, Lai is facing another legal case as well. For their participation in the 2019-2020 demonstrations, Lai and 14 other protesters, including Martin Lee, were detained in April 2020. Also if Lai receives a light word in this test, he may receive a harsher sentence in a later one.
In the end, Lai’s consequence may be more intended to send a message to the people of Hong Kong. There is a proverb that says, “kill the chicken to frighten the chimpanzee,” in Cantonese. Unfortunately, the City government might choose to convert Lai to a sacrifice chicken.
Michael F. Martin was lead researcher on Hong Kong for the Congressional Research Service from 2007 to 2021, and he taught at Hong Kong Baptist University from 1991 to 1992. He also served as the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s assistant commander scholar from 1994 to 1998.  ,